The Memory Collectors
3-5pm Sunday 25 October | Manning Clark House 11 Tasmania Circle, Forrest, ACT
The National Library of Australia’s Oral History and Folklore collection comprises some 58,000 hours of audio dating back to the 1960s. Curator Dr Barbara Lemon will discuss the breadth and depth of this incredible collection, who collects oral history and how, and what ethical and practical considerations come into play when opening access to audio, whether it was recorded last week or last century.
She will also describe the AI-assisted process that enabled the entire collection to be transcribed in just 8 weeks – a task that would previously have taken nearly 80 years at human transcription rates.
Dr Barbara Lemon is Director of Curatorial and Collection Research for the National Library of Australia. She has an academic and professional background in Australian history and has held senior roles with libraries and universities in Australia, New Zealand and the UK.